The Edo State Governor, Godwin Obaseki, has said the state’s Smart Digital Identity initiative, referred to as ‘Edo Card’, is directly linked with the National Identity Management Commission’s database to provide a single form of identity for its residents.
Obaseki, speaking at the official launch of the Edo State Residency Card in Benin, described the initiative as a road map for the implementation of government’s technology programme.
‘Edo Card’ was officially launched in November 2022 to create a unique identifier for individuals and businesses to engage with the government at different service delivery points.
The governor said, “The ‘Edo Card’ is unique in that it links directly with the National Identity Management Commission database to provide one single form of identity for residents of the state in line with global best practice.
“When we started this project, the goal was to leverage technology to create a sustainable identification framework that will support the government’s interaction with our people, expand the social network as well as enable a strengthened, more inclusive and targeted public sector service delivery that is guided by empirical data.
“The launch of the smart residency card marks a significant milestone in our journey and the target is to have no less than one million cards issued by 2024.”
In his remarks, the Co-founder/Chief Executive Officer of a digital identity verification company and technical partners on the project, VerifyMe Nigeria, Esigie Aguele, commended the state government for leveraging private sector expertise in actualising the project.
